FOUR WORDS FOR THE ASPIRING SCREENWRITER
Peter Kremer

This story is about me and maybe about you. It's about that thing that grabs us and makes us want to be screen writers. It's really about that first great idea for a movie.

I had an idea for a movie. I had interesting characters complete with strengths, weaknesses and little quirks of personality that made my characters real and interesting.

The scenes! Oh the scenes! Ante-bellum mansions, riverboats, and crowded merchant fairways defined the world. Scenes were rich with elaborate descriptions of ambiance, cutting dialogue and action that was choreographed down to the individual footstep. And first and foremost, I knew how I wanted to weave my statement on life's irony and cruelty into my glorious screenplay.

I wrote it and rewrote it, becoming more and more convinced that this was a great cinematic story that needed to be told. My wife agreed it was wonderful. A coworker loved the idea. And my mother in law was sure I was a creative genius destined for fame. This screenplay was my baby. It was me and I was it. I knew every nuance, every detail and every breath each character took.

If only I could get a someone important to read my movie, I was sure they would snap it up and I would of be on my to a new career and a more artistically fulfilling life. So I joined the TSA, an organization of like-minded people. The TSA promotes the craft of screenwriting. I was sure they would love my idea. So I read my baby to the group. I waited for the flood of kudos. This is what I heard.

"What is your protagonist's goal? The girl is your protagonist. Right?"

"Everything seems to happen to her. She doesn't actually do anything. That's not good!"

"Why doesn't the antagonist just kill her when he has her in his hands? He'd have to be stupid not to!"

"That whole opening scene in the doctor's office has absolutely nothing to do with the girl's story."

"Let me tell you all the reasons this doesn't work."

At that point I knew this was not a mutual admiration support group.

I thought to myself, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN!!! I love the doctor's office scene! And isn't it obvious? He can't kill her because.eh." Then I felt a little hurt. Okay really demoralized. But I went on. "Well she's a victim of her up bringing and." Then I got mad. "Well this story is really about her search for her birth right and. eh."

As I spoke I realized the awful truth. My baby, my idea, my labor of love, made sense to only one person. Me! What was in my head was not making it to the paper. Of course I understood it. I'd lived it for a year. I knew how to type the proper screenplay format, but the problem was, I didn't have a story. It was just a series of elaborate scenes, an idea.

So I listened. I used the tools the TSA provided. I rewrote. I added characters. I eliminated characters. I presented it to the group again and got the same questions.

I changed the scenes. I changed goals. I changed protagonists. I wanted to make my idea work. It didn't.

Then someone made a simple suggestion. "Why don't you start a different story. Make it a learning experience. Then come back to this story later." I thought, "But.but. This is my story! My baby!"

That was a year ago. I go to TSA meeting regularly. I read a lot of scripts. I read a lot of screenwriting books, and I'm writing a comedy about a goose that poops gold.

People are laughing. The questions are about what is going to happen, which means they understand what has happened. That is an important step forward because that means there is a story line. I still get advice on better ways to tell the story, but it doesn't hurt anymore because I know I have the basic understanding of how to tell a story through a screenplay.

So what are "Four Words" For the Aspiring Screenwriter?

"Give It A Rest!" Sometimes we become so entwined in our first inspired effort that we can not see the forest for the trees. Put it down. Walk away from it. Go to neutral ground. Start another story from scratch and build it step by step so the basic foundation is solid.

TSA Premise Sheets are wonderful tools. Above all, DON'T THINK SO HARD! The answers to the premise sheet questions are usually fairly simple.

Learn the three-act structure. Understand what the inciting incident is. Know when plot points should happen and what a plot point does.

If you learn these things, one day you'll come back to you baby, look at it, and VOILA! You'll finally see the real story.

I know! It happened to me. My "baby" is now going to be a comedy about. Well, You'll have to wait and see cause it's going to be a smash hit blockbuster mister DeMille!

See? You don't have to give up your dream. You have to "give it a rest!"